Method and apparatus for retting fibrous materials.



J. K. TOLES.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BETTING PIBROUS MATERIALS.

I APPLICATION FILED APB..23,1913. 1 133,59O.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l. l is l 3 2, T 6 5| T WlTNESSESZ IENVENTUR ATTQBRNEY.

J. K. TOLES.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BETTING FIBROUS MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1913.

1,133,59Q Patented Mar.80,1915.

SSHEETS-SHEET 2.

AT T OBNEY.

J. K. TOLES. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BETTING FIBROU S MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1918.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

3 $HEETS-SHEET 3.

WlT NE S SE S lNVENT UB1.

AT T URNEY.

ED STATES arana @FFICE.

JUSTIN KAY TOLRy F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T WILLIAM Ru BROWN, 01 DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BETTING FIBROUS MATERIALS I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar.3, 11915.

Application filed April 23, 1913. Serial No. 763,165.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JUSTIN KAY Tones, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at San Francisco, county of San Francisco, vState of California, have 1nvented a certain new and useful Method and Apparatus for Betting Fibrous Materials; and I do hereby declare the'following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the results with comparatively simple and compact apparatus which is easy and economical to practice, to secure extra favorable condi-' tions for rotting in a comparatively short time baled flax in a highly compressed state under pressure, to insurethe attainment of uniformity of result in the retting of the flax and also despatch and economy in the handling of the same, to minimize the amount of tank room required in operation, to permit the use of comparatively small amounts of water and of the culture of retting bacilli, and to obtain fiber having a high degree" of strength and quality.

With the above and other obiects and advantages in View, the invention may be sald to consist in the provision of the novel and advantageous features and in the novel and improved method for rotting flax as Wlll be apparent to those skil ed in the art from a consideration of th claims which follow hereinafter taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan viewof apparatus for 1 l8 and are provided with suitable valves 31 carrying out the invention, arranged in a building shown in section; Fig. 2 is a front elevational view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3' is a rear elevational view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an enlarged broken and sectional view of one of the valves, taken on the line 4-4.- of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged broken and sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of one of the retting tanks, taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is an endescription and and overlapping the hatches 21.

larged longitudinal sectional view of one of the retting tanks, taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 1. 1

In carrying out the method, the flax is preferably highly compressed in bales" 8 each approximately 40 long, 28" wide, and 28" highand two tiers of four of the bales 8 suitably bound compactly together are formed into a unit 9, consisting of eight bales, by means of a rod 10 passed centrally through the tiers and having thereon plates 11 which are forced against opposite ends of the tiers by screwing the nut 12 on one end portion of the rod 10. i I

The flax may be transported on a suitable car 13 having thereon a hoist 14 and adapted to travel. on railways'15 and 16 which may extend into a building 17 and be disposed on beds of concrete 17 adjacent to the intake and discharge ends of the retting tanks 18 which are arranged in the.building. Theretting tanks 18 may be of any desired number and are preferably disposed substantially horizontally and provided with intake openings '19 and discharge openings 20 which may be sealed by means of hatches 21 adapted to 'be fitted in the openings and secured in place by wedges 24 driven between the ears 23 on the tanks The hatches 21 may be raised from or lowered to the openings 20 by means of the hoist 14eyes 25 being provided on the hatches to facilitate attaching to the hatches the hook 26 of the hoist.

Water under a pressure head is preferably supplied to the retting tanks 18 from a tank 27 disposed on a platform 28 at a suitable distance above the tanks 18; piping 29 having therein a suitable valve 29 being connected to the lower part of the tank 27 and also to branch pipes 30 which latter lead to the intakeend of the tanks therein. A pump 32 connected with a supply pipe 33 may be'used to force water through the delivery pipe 34: to the upper part of the tank 27.

Betting fluid may be supplied to the tanks 18 from a tank 35 which is arranged on the platform 28; piping 36 having therein a suitable valve 36 being connected to the lower part of the tank 35 and also connect ed with the branch pipes 30 by means of pipes 37, On the platform 28 is also disposed a propagation tank 38 containing culture liquor for anaerobic bacilli or retting A bacteria; piping 39 having therein the valve 39' being connected with the lower part of the tank 38 and also connected with preferably galvanized pipes 40 which are suitably arranged in the upper part of the retting tanks 18 and provided with openings 41 therein for' distributing the culture liquor in the tanks 18. At the junctions of the piping 39 with the pipes 40 are arranged valves 42, preferably of the type shown in Fig. 4, whereby communication of any of the pipes 40 with the piping 39 maybe controlled to regulate the amount of culture liquor passing to any of the tanks 18.

The contents of the tanks 27, 35, and 38 may be heated by steam from pipe 43 which through valves 42-preferably of the type shown in Fig. 4is adapted to supply the desired amount of steam for heating to any of the coils 44 of piping arranged in said tanks. Piping 45 connected to the pipe 43 may supply, through valves 42, steam to galvanized pipes 46 which extend along the bottom of the rettingtanks 18 to heat the contents of the tanks 18. Galvanized drain pipes 47 having therein suitable valves 48 are provided at the bottom of each of the retting tanks 18. A pump 49 has connected therewith a delivery pipe 50 leading to the top part of the tank 35 and has also connected therewith piping 51 which is connected with each of the retting tanks 18 through valves 42, whereby the retting fluid may be pumped from any of the tanks 18 and circulation of the retting-fluid through the tanks 18 may be effected. Between the pipes 34 and 50 is connected a pipe 52 having therein a suitable valve 53, whereby, by closing the valves 54 in the pipes 34 and 50 and openingthe valves 36, 31, and 42 of piping 51, circulation of water through any ofthe tanks 18 may be effected by operating the pump 49.

In operation, each of the retting tanks 18 is filled with an amount of water sufficient to float the units 9 of baled flax, and the baled flax may be moved, by means of the hoist 14, from the car 13 and through the intake opening 19 into the retting tank where it comes in contact with the water which is held at a given level in the retting tank to admit of complete buoyancy of the baled flax. The water is circulated from the intake end to the discharge end of the.

bales of flax of a total weight in excess of 10 tons. 'l/Vere the flax not baled it'would require a space about eleven times greater and considerable more expense for handling same,

hence the commercial importance of successful bale retting. If desired, the baled flax in the retting tank 18 can be given. several washings of warm water from the tank 27 applying the pressure of the water and then discharging it through the drain pipes 47. After the baled flax has been soaked or-washed with water, an admixture of retting fluid from the tank 35 and of fresh water from the tank 27 isadmitted to the retting tank 18 and forced, by the pressure head, into the baled flax. The temperature of the contents of the retting tank 18 is pref erably raised to between 95 and 100 F. by means of the steam pipes in the tanks 35,

QL'and 18, and the valve 42 in piping 51 is opened to introduce specific retting bacteria from the tank 38 into the retting tank through pipe 40. During the retting period, the necessary free circulation of the retting fluid through the tank 18 is accomplished by the pump 49 which raises the retting fluid to the tank 35 where the retting fluid clarifies and then flows back into the retting tank under the-required pressure head; thus the circulation of the bacteria laden fluid is maintained with economy. The drain pipes 47 permit quick emptying of fluid from the retting tank 18 and also provide a means for disposing of the acid offermentation and of heavier resinous substance which generate rapidly by reason of the great amount of flax in the comparatively small amount of retting fluid. The acid of fermentation and resinous substance have a deleterious effect upon the retting and must therefore be rapidly disposed of. Under pressure, which is continuously maintained on the baled flax in'the retting tank 18, it is possible to secure superior retting within 2% or 3 days. Without pressure, compressed flax in bales cannot be properly retted because the flax retted long before retting of the flax on the inner portion of the bales is affected.

In flax retting making use of retting bacteria and a suitabletemperature the propagation of the bacteria is very rapid, so that retting isbegun and ended before the more resistant gums in the flax are properly dison the outer portion of the bales becomes solved out, and, in'consequence, when the flax is dried the fiber is still strongly adherent to the woody stem. But when a pressure of from 8 to 12 pounds is applied the resinous and gummy substances are more rapidly penetrated by the fluid and give up their adherence. In a temperature of 87 F. when, 10 pounds pressure is applied the resinous and gummy substances are dissolvedwithin 56 hours thus coinciding substantially with the retting period. Also large as well as small bales of compressed flax are uniformly affected by the fluid and a superior retting not heretofore accomplished is the result. A specific ferment added to the retting fluid and acting as a natural solvent of the less soluble gummy substances hastens the removal of the gummy substances. Again, specific pectinferment added to the retting fluid hastens the propagation of the retting bacteria which build up and fill the fiber cellswith an increase ofpectin wax of from three to five per cent. over the usual manner of retting, It-is to .be noted that though the propagation of retting bacteria is assisted, the retting of the flax is not forced unnaturally. The bacteria do the retting. The retting and gum dissolving processes go on simultaneously, and the constituent vital elements, spinning quality, strength, and durability of the flax fiber are not only preserved, but actually improved from three to five per cent. In discharging the bales of flax from the retting tank 18, the fluid in the tank is maintained at a higher level than when the bales were introduced into the tank because the saturated bales have become less buoyant, and the bales are floated from the intake end to the discharge end of the tank and lifted out by the hoist and loaded on the car to be conveyed away to be dried. I

I claim:

1. A method of retting flax, which consists in partially filling a tank with fluid, floating the flax compressed in bales in the tank to fill the tank with the flax, then fillplace of that drained until complete rotting of the flax is effected;

2. A method of retting flax which consists in" partially filling a tank with fluid, causing movement of the fluid, and floating bales of the flax by the moving fluid to fill the tank with the flax, then filling the tank with fluid under a pressure head, with or without the addition of retting'bacteria to the fluid, and draining the fluid and adding fresh fluid to take the place of that drained until complete retting of the flax is effected.

3. A method of retting flax, which consists in partially filling a tank with fluid, causing movement of the fluid and floating bales of the flax by the moving fluid to fill the tank with the flax, then filling the tank with fluid under a pressure head, with or Without the addition of retting bacteria to the fluid, heating the fluid, ridding the fluid of acid of fermentationv and gummy sub stances, and continuously circulating the fluid under a pressure head until complete retting of the bales of flax is effected.

4. Apparatus for retting flax, comprising 7 a substantially horizontal tank provided with intake and discharge openings, hatches to cover the openings, means for movingfluid in the tank to float the flax from the intake end of the tank toward thedischarge end of the tank, means to fill the tank with rottingv fluid under a pressure head, and means for circulating the retting fluid, substantially as set forth.

' In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses at San Francisco, county of San Francisco, State of Galifornia, this 18th day of April A. D. 1913.

JUSTIN KAY TOLES. Witnesses:

ELLA SCOTT, A. H. Lioness. 

